Rockwell Automation Arena Packaging Users Guide - Manual (Page 46)

A RENA P ACKAGING T EMPLATE U SER ’ S G UIDE
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Animation dialog
D ESCRIPTION
The Animation dialog box appears in most constructs to provide on-screen indicators of
model operation as the simulation executes. Depending on the construct, different options
are available. Possible options include a state indicator, blocked/starved symbols, a
product picture, and a variables table. In some cases, a module will have an Animation
check box without an Animation button/dialog box. This indicates that there is only one
type of animation available, and it is enabled/disabled using the Animation check box.
R EMARKS
Product symbols must be defined using Product modules before they can be animated
with the Product Picture option.
Double-clicking on State Indicators and Product Pictures (Product module) allows you to
customize their appearance.
Note that the rate variables displayed in a variables table are always the base time units
variables and thus may show different numbers than what is entered as the “per minute”
run speed in the module dialog boxes. For example, you might define the nominal run
speed of a machine as 100 units per minute in the module dialog box. However, since the
variable Name_BaseNomRunSpeed is what is animated in the machine’s variables table,
if the base time units in Arena’s Run > Setup > Replication Parameters is specified as
“Hours,” then the animation will display a nominal run speed of “6000” (60 minutes * 100
units per minute) at run-time.
The pictures used to animate traveling and accumulated units on conveyors (or conveyor
machines) may be customized. By default, the distributed fill level animation shows green
disks for traveling units and red disks for accumulated units. You can replace those default
disk pictures with customized pictures by enabling the Use Picture option in the Level
dialog box. HSMART31 illustrates this feature.
Note that additional animation, such as plots, histograms, and variables, is available from
the Animate toolbar.
Controls dialog
D ESCRIPTION
The Controls dialog box defines controls for machines (all types), accumulating conveyors,
and palletizers. This dialog box specifies when the controls are evaluated, the conditions
for each control that is evaluated, and the set of actions taken when all the conditions of a
control are true. Multiple controls may be defined for a single machine, conveyor, or
palletizer.